According to Harrison (2007), levels of marriage have fallen among all racial groups since the 1950’s. This “flight of marriage” tends to be most pronounced among the African population. Budlender and her colleagues, with the use of the October Household Survey, observed that, between 1995 and 1999, marriage was almost universal among whites and Indians aged 50 and above. However, the percentage of ever-married women aged 50 and above for Africans (80.4 %) and Coloureds (82.8 %) suggests that marriage
22 was far from universal among these two groups compared to 91.9 percent and 95.3 percent for Indians and whites respectively (Budlender et al., 2004). As a result, Africans were still less likely to get married than whites and Indians because of significant differences concerning the practices of marriage between these population groups.
Makiwane (2004) further showed marriage differences by age group between population groups where 37 percent of Africans in the age group 30 to 34 reported being married which increased to 51 percent in age group 35 to 39. For other population groups, at the same respective ages, coloureds constituted 51 percent and 60 percent respectively, 72 percent and 86 percent for Indians and 82 percent and 83 percent for Whites. These figures do not only indicate relatively low marriage rates for Africans and coloureds, but also show a considerable percentage of marriages happen towards the end of the reproductive period.
As mentioned earlier, the payment of bridewealth is widely practiced among Africans and its shift from ‘cattle-payment’ to ‘cash-payment’ has further made it difficult for young African men to marry due to the rapid rise of unemployment in South Africa (Wilson, 1987). While this is the case, it has also been found that marriage is delayed, especially among African women between the ages of 25 to 34 (Swartz, 2004). These are the highly economically active and independent age groups with highly educated women who are affected by the shortage of marriageable men (Wilson, 1987). Such dynamics tend to affect African women more than White and Indian women.
2.5.2 Urban-rural differentials
The urban-rural differences in marriage are explained, not by place of residence per se, but, by differences in labour force participation, sex ratio and marital status resulting from migration and educational attainment of the populations living in urban and rural areas (Smith, 1983). There are reasons why place of residence might exert an independent effect on marriage timing. These explanations include urban women’s greater exposure to modern values that favour marriage postponement and their lifestyles that reserve them from the community (Singh and Samara, 1996).
23 It is also apparent that traditional marriages are a rarer phenomenon in urban areas than in rural areas, accounting for less than 20 percent of all marriages (Budlender et al., 2004).
The census and the October Household Survey data show that traditional marriages are generally more common among the rural dwellers, whereas civil marriages are common among the urban dwellers. This can further be explained by the predominance of African people in rural areas to an even greater extent than in urban areas. However, the predominance of African people in rural areas does not explain all of the differences between urban and rural marriage patterns. The 1996 census reveals that 30.7 percent of African married people in urban areas were married by traditional rites, as compared to 58.4 percent in rural areas.
In Southern African countries, the situation is different for urban-rural difference because each of the above attributes is anticipated to the higher likelihood that women in rural areas will marry at a young age. As expected, urban women are less likely than rural women to marry in their teenage years. Table 2.3 show the percentages of women aged 20 to 24 in urban and rural areas who had married by the age of 20.
Table 2.3: Percentage of women aged 20-24 who are married before age 20, Southern Africa
Country Place of Residence
Urban Rural Southern Africa
Botswana 22 17
Namibia 17 22
Zambia 53 75
Zimbabwe 46 58
Source: Westoff et al., 1994
Urban-rural differences are small in Southern African countries, except in Zimbabwe and Zambia, with urban women being as likely as rural women to marry before age 20. In table 2.3, over fifty percent (53 %) of Zambian urban women and 46 percent of
24 Zimbabwean urban women are likely to marry before age 20 although 75 percent and 58 percent rural women marry before age 20, respectively. Botswana has the smallest percentages of urban-rural differences, with 22 percent of urban woman and 17 percent of rural women who marry before age 20, compared to 53 percent of urban women and 75 percent of rural women in Zambia.
It has also been observed that, the small urban-rural differences in Southern African countries is because most of these countries constitute less than 40 percent of the population living in urban areas. In Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the proportion of the population living in urban areas is 33 percent, 35 percent, and 36 percent respectively (Population Reference Bureau, 2007). Botswana and South Africa are clustered more tightly around the regression line at urbanization level with over fifty percent of the population living in urban areas, with 54 percent and 53 percent respectively (Population Reference Bureau, 2007).
As a result, among the countries with less than 40 percent of the population living in urban areas, the proportion of women marrying before age 20 ranges from 14 percent in South Africa (Clark, 2004), 19 percent in Botswana (characterized by late age at marriage as mentioned earlier) to 64 percent in Zambia (Singh and Samara, 1996). Despite the association between the prevalence of early marriage and urbanization, there are many factors other than urbanization that determine levels of early marriage. Factors such as urban living conditions may influence the relationship between women’s educational attainment and age at marriage (Singh and Samara, 1996). In urban areas, educated women experience less familial pressure to marry early compared to their educated peers in rural areas. This may be due to urban women having greater access to effective contraceptive methods compared to rural women which enables them to avoid premarital pregnancies which may eventually lead to early marriage.
25